Tinky Winky

Cara has been so funny. She has turned into the bossiest of 2 year olds and talks non-stop. She repeats everything we say and is "reading" her books aloud. She has one that she loves that has a line "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" and when we read it to her we say that line while shaking our finger at the book. The other day I saw her sitting on the floor and shaking her finger, saying "No more bed" very emphatically.

Lately, she has taken to putting her nose about 2 inches from mine and saying "mommy, mommy, mommy" each time with increasing urgency, the final one coming out in a near growl and all the while she is patting each of my cheeks with her tiny hands. Often she just wants my attention but sometimes she wants something else...a pretzel, some Halloween candy or sometimes who knows what. But want it she does, badly.

This morning, she was wondering around in her fleece jammies and a very wet diaper and Jim looked down and her and remarked "she looks like a Teletubby. And she did.

Halloween Weekend

We had a great Halloween and the kids really got into it. Jarrett because I think he kind of understood what to expect for the first time, and Cara because Jarrett was into it. Jarrett dressed up as a dinosaur and Cara was a mouse...sort of. Couldn't get the girl to keep her hood on, so most of the time she just looked like a woolly toddler.

Jarrett and I had been practicing all week so he would be ready for trick or treating, role playing the whole bit.
Me: Okay, we walk up to our neighbor's door and what do we do?

J: We knock knock knock (pantomiming)

Me: Then, they open their door, and what do you say?

J: Tankoo!

Me: No, not yet, what do you say first?

J: Tricky treating!

Me: That's right! Then what does our neighbor do?

J: Dey give me candy!!!

Me: Uh-huh...then what do you say?

J: Tankoo!

Me: That's right, I think you are ready!

Jarrett had school on Friday and they had a costume party and parade. I pretty much think in this photo Miss Janet might be saying "Jarrett, get back over here". I say that a lot myself.

Let me say there is no amount of tuition discount that could make me take a job in a preschool. It is no place for a control freak.

That evening, and by that I mean afternoon, because around here people start trick or treating around 3 pm, we took the kids around the 'hood for some big fun. Jarrett was absolutely cracking us up. He had a ball and so did Cara though she got tired of walking and carrying her candy bucket...but hey, she's 2, that's a lot of work for a wee one. The routine went much like our above role play with only a few hiccups. The most alarming one was that on the first few houses, as soon as people opened their doors, Jarrett would just walk in and start looking around. We had a tough time convincing him that trick or treating took place on the front porch. Finally, when we knocked on a door and he heard a large dog barking, we were able to convince him that if he didn't want to meet a big dog face to face he might want to stay on the front porch...so he did. But that didn't stop him from craning the entirety of his upper half around our neighbors' legs to take a good look around their homes. Jeez..Nosy Norton!

a brief moment in her hood

Our next door neighbor and babysitter, Katherine. The kids LOVE her, and we do too

I think it is fair to say we enjoyed trick or treating as much as the kids did...it ranked right up there with our former Halloween parties, with a lot less clean up. Still had a hangover though. It was a sugar hangover, but a hangover all the same.











On Saturday we took the kids back to Sesame Place. It was a nice warm day and the last weekend it would be open till next spring. Our tickets were still good. And, I think I mentioned before, it is only 40 minutes away.

She thought this ride looked like it would be fun

Then, once she was in the air, she changed her mind

Enjoying the teacups

She had been dipping her cookie in ketchup. That one's for you, Auntie Carol.

Proof of Justice in This World...or an Auntie Conspiracy

Just in case you thought there was no justice in this world, no fairness, no sense of order and logical turn of events...Jarrett has begun a new thing, and from what I understand, I have it coming to me. Lately, for the past week or so, J is asking "why?" to everything we say. To things we tell him and to answers we give to his own questions.

Jarrett: Mommy, I go to Target and get Doc?
Me: No, we aren't getting any new toys for awhile, maybe for your birthday.
Jarrett: Why?
Me: Because you have lots of toys already to play with.
Jarrett: Why?
and so on.

Or...
Me: Okay, lets go home and make lunch.
Jarrett: Why?

Argghhh!!!!!!!!!!! Mom, Dad, Robert, Carol (and okay, even Jim, even now) I'm sorry. From the bottom of my pea-pickin heart.

Another One to Add to Our List

I guess every place we live, we have to check out the ER. On Thursday afternoon, Jarrett and Cara were playing in her room and J saw a book on a high shelf he wanted to get to. So he started to climb the shelf, and she started to climb the shelf, and it pulled out enough to knock some items off the higher shelves and one of them split his little head open. Just above and to the left of the last split of his that took us to the ER. Sheesh. The kid is going through life forehead first, apparently.

It has been my nightmare that he would require a trip to the ER while I was at home alone with he and Cara because I haven't been sure of just how I would handle it. And of course, it happened, just days after our move across the country to a place where we have no family and no friends yet. Yeah! What timing! Thank goodness for our new neighbors...they absolutely came to the rescue. The 12 yr old daughter stayed with Cara and the mom actually drove us there so that I wouldn't have to find it on my own. A lifesaver, I am not kidding.

Once we got to the ER, J's poor noggin had stopped bleeding but they said he still needed 3 stitches, which was pretty awful but quick and now he's doing fine. We went back this morning for a wound check and they said everything looks good and stitches can come out on Tues. For his part, Jarrett is milking it for all it's worth. Anytime we tell him something he doesn't want to hear, like "no", he throws his hand up to his head, turns down the corners of his mouth in almost a cartoonish look of despair and says "but I have boo-boo!"

My only concern now is that, after 4 trips to the ER in less than 2 years, someone is going to alert the authorities.